Spray nozzles are utilized in many areas where a spray of liquid is required: metal washing; foam control, asphalt spraying; vehicle washing; and dishwashers, to name but a few. In metal washing, one of the more popular forms of spray nozzles is the adjustable ball clip-on spray nozzle. These nozzles are mounted on tubular headers which have been drilled to provide a communicating hole and are secured to the headers by means of a springclip. The nozzles comprise a body and a nozzle ball. The body is provided with a spigot for extending into the header hole, surrounded by an o-ring receiving groove and a saddle shaped surround corresponding to the header surface around the hole. A bore extends through the body to a hemispherical chamber for accommodating the nozzle ball, which is retained in the chamber by a collar which engages external screw threads on the body.
A spring clip is pivotally attached to the body for retaining the nozzle on the header as, for example, when "phosphating" steel using spray nozzles the compounds in the phosphating fluid tend to precipitate out and collect in, and eventually obstruct, the nozzle. Using a spring clip, the nozzle may be easily replaced or removed for cleaning.
In metal washing a fluid pressure of approximately 20-30 lbs/in..sup.2 is used and it has been found that the resulting pressure force acting on the nozzle tends to push the nozzle off the header, thus reducing the effectiveness of the seal between the nozzle and header. This problem is more pronounced with nozzles of a larger diameter, as the effective area over which the pressure acts is substantially greater than with a nozzle which is only slightly smaller. Also, nozzles are currently manufactured with a variety of different spigot diameters and, if a customer wishes to use a smaller diameter nozzle, it is difficult to achieve a good seal between a nozzle spigot and the edge of an oversize header hole using existing o-ring seals.